


A Song Just For Us

by Skyla_Cordelia



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: A mixture of both routes, AU, Alternate Universe, Azure Moon Route, Childhood Friends AU, F/M, Verdant Wind route
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2020-12-28 02:10:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21129050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyla_Cordelia/pseuds/Skyla_Cordelia
Summary: Felix Fraldarius and Annette Dominic had been friends since they were young children, but after the death of his brother the two drifted apart and don't meet again for four years later. Now at the Officer's Academy they learn about each other again and become closer than they ever had before.Based on the AU artwork of aster-isks on Tumblr!!





	1. Da Capo

**Author's Note:**

> This Childhood Friends AU is based on artwork made by aster-isks on Tumblr! Please check those out and support the art!

_De Capo: (Italian for “from the beginning”)_

“Felix! Where are you?”

  
A squeal came from a young girl, no older than five years of age, with fiery orange hair in pigtail braids and teal eyes that were bright with laughter. As she ran through the woods with tall pine trees, her orange boots crunching through the snow, she gripped her thick orange shawl that covered her shoulders with one hand while her other gripped a small wooden doll. She stopped, panting, her hands on the knees of her white dress with the hem a royal blue color.

  
A sudden blast of burning cold hit her square in the face. A boy that was about the same age as her had popped out from behind a tree, laughing loudly. His black hair was tied into a small ponytail, his amber eyes glittering with amusement. Snow dusted his turquois-colored vest as he pointed at her with a brown gloved hand.

“FELIX!” the girl screamed.

  
“Haha, Annette, I got you!” Felix laughed, his smile seemingly getting wider.

  
Tears stung Annette’s eyes, she crouched into the snow and began to cry. Immediately Felix flinched and ran up to her, panic across his face.  
“Annie! I’m sorry! Please don’t cry!” Felix pleaded. He finally made it to her, crouching by her side. “I didn’t mean to make you cry, Annie! Please stop crying!” Annette stopped crying, which relived Felix greatly.

  
That is until a bunch of snow was thrown in his face and he fell backwards.

  
“AH!” he yelped as his back crunched into the snow.

  
Annette stood over him, a look of triumph on her face. “That’s what you get, Felix!” she told him. She then stuck her tongue out at him and blew a raspberry.

  
Felix gave a huff and stood up, brushing the snow off of him. “That was a dirty trick, Annie…” he pouted. All Annette did was laugh, which turned Felix’s pout into a smile and he began to laugh too.

  
Together the two walked through the woods back to a large stone castle hand in hand.

**

  
Felix Hugo Fraldarius and Annette Fantine Dominic had known each other for as long as they could remember, always playing together when their fathers were in Fhirdiad visiting the king of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus.

  
It wasn’t always those two playing, they would play with Sylvain from House Gautier and Ingrid from House Galatea, as well as the crown prince himself, Dimitri Blaiddyd. The five would run around the castle that held the Royal Family playing whatever games that they desired. Sometimes they were even accompanied by Felix’s older brother, Glenn, who would teach them some sword fighting as well.

  
When the two weren’t in Fhirdiad together, they would be at each other’s homes. During the winter it seemed Annette spent most of her time in Fraldarius territory, her and Felix running through the snowy woods and making forts. Glenn would even teach her some fencing; something that was considered as elegant as dancing. The two could also be found in the library on days that were too cold or a there was a blizzard outside, reading the old tales of Faerghus and reading about reason magic.

  
In the spring, Felix would spend most of his time in Dominic territory. It may have been significantly smaller than Fraldarius territory, but Felix felt that it was much more comforting. There in the spring Felix heard Annette sing her songs while they sit under a tree; he found her singing to be quite relaxing and would practically fall asleep with his head in her lap. When there was sweets available after dinner, Felix always gave his share to Annette, who would smile and give him a large hug.

  
Now, unbeknownst to the two children, their fathers, Gustave Dominic and Rodrigue Fraldarius, had arranged for the two to be betrothed and take over Dominic territory together; this arrangement was done as Glenn was betrothed to Ingrid. The two fathers were pleased to see Felix and Annette get along so well.

  
Annette was always there for Felix after his sparring with Glenn and Dimitri, most of the time him losing. He would be sad and disappointed that he would lose, but Annette would cheer him up with a song and tell him that he is getting stronger every day and that one day he will win. Felix was there for Annette when she was trip and fall over something silly as a rock or barrel, and he was there when she would get scared in the middle of the night from lightning or heavy storms; he even grabbed his wooden sword to fight a “ghost” that Annette saw, even though it turned out to be a curtain.

  
It was obvious that Felix was protective of Annette. If Sylvain was playing with them he would hold Annette’s wooden doll high above his head where the girl couldn’t even jump to reach, all she had to do was call for Felix and the boy would punch Sylvain in the stomach for him to drop the doll. Even if village boys were tugging on her braids, he would grab his wooden training sword and challenge them to a fight. Annette would tell Felix that he was her knight in shining armor, as heroic as the heroes that were in the tales that they read.

  
When apart the two always wrote to each other. They would wait patiently at the end of the week at their respective homes, waiting for the messenger to deliver the letters. The two would smile at each others letters and store them in boxes, that way if they spent too far apart and couldn’t send as many letters as they would like they still had something. When they had their reunions, mainly in Fhirdiad in the summer and autumn months, they would spend the first few days only being with each other, Felix showing Annette a new stance he learned and Annette would sing him a song that she recently made up.

  
It was always teased by Sylvain, Ingrid, and Dimitri that the two were practically married and should just go live in their own castle together. Glenn in the background would snicker and tease Felix about him and Annette. It seemed everything was as happy and blissful as could be.

  
Until the Tragedy of Duscur happened.

It happed when Felix and Annette were about twelve-thirteen years old. Glenn had been knighted at the age of fifteen due to his amazing talent and skill, and Felix was proud of his older brother and was secretly jealous of his amazing strength.

  
“He died like a true knight,” Rodrigue would say when people approached him and Felix at the funeral expressing their condolences to the surviving Fraldarius’. Glenn’s body was not there for the funeral as the bodies at Duscur were so unrecognizable that there was nothing to bring back but Glenn’s sword and the Aegis Shield.

  
It seemed every time that Rodrigue would proudly say that Glenn had died like a true knight, the angrier and more upset Felix got. At one point he screamed at Rodrigue, in front of the mourning orphaned Prince Dimitri and Glenn’s fiancé Ingrid, that his death was pointless and that Rodrigue shouldn’t be just brushing it off.

  
Annette as at the funeral as well with her mother, her father nowhere to be seen. In fact, no one knew where Gustave went, it seemed like he just disappeared. She had expressed her condolences to Rodrigue, Felix, and Ingrid with tears in her large teal eyes, her trying to hug Felix out of habit and comfort only for him to push her away from him.

  
Annette didn’t realize that would be the start of their declining friendship.

  
Felix had become more distant, and he took his training more seriously than ever before. After all, he had to get stronger in order to be a suitable heir for House Fraldarius now. When Annette did one of her visits in the winter, he ignored her and yelled at her for her to leave and never come back.

  
“YOU’RE EVIL, FELIX HUGO FRALDARIUS!” was the last thing she screamed at him before running away in tears.

  
Felix had felt guilty shouting at her, and he had really wanted to chase her down and give her hug to apologize. But he wouldn’t. He _couldn’t_. He had to get stronger… he had to be stronger than Glenn. There was no way Felix was going to die like Glenn had done, he wasn’t going to leave his family and loved ones behind for anything. It would be something that he truly believed in, but even then he would want to be strong enough to survive it.

  
Within the year after the Tragedy of Duscur, Annette had been enrolled into the Royal Academy of Sorcery in Fhirdiad to study her reason magic. She wrote letters to Felix periodically, but he never responded to her. Eventually she just stopped writing, feeling her dear childhood friend slip away.

  
In four years Felix had grown incredibly strong, his speed and strength something to be reckoned with. In four years Annette’s magic grew large and powerful as the winds. In four years they drifted apart, each one thinking in the back of their heads that they may never see each other again.

  
That is… until they see each other at the Officer’s Academy in Garreg Mach Monastery in the year 1180 as students of the Blue Lion House.


	2. Solo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felix had just arrived at Garreg Mach to attend the Officer's Academy. He meets up with his old friends, including one he hadn't seen in four years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like to thank aster-isks once again for inspiring the story to begin with from their art! There is even art that was inspired by the last chapter with Felix protecting Annette from the "ghost"! So, or course that made me want to get started on the next chapter!
> 
> Thanks for reading everyone!

_Solo: alone; i.e. executed by a single instrument or voice._

* * *

The coach that held Felix and his father rumbled across the dirt roads, the sounds of the horses’ hooves clopping rhythmically.

Felix sat on one end of the coach, his right elbow balanced on his knee and his hand holding his face as his amber eyes stared blankly out the window watching the scene painfully go by. His black hair was tied into a messy bun with stray hairs in his face, his expression looked bored as though he couldn’t believe he was sitting there with his father, Rodrigue, sitting across from him.

Rodrigue, like Felix, had black hair, but his hair was long and free from any ties. His cold looking dark blue eyes were steady on his son, but it seemed like his son was ignoring him.

“You know,” Rodrigue began, breaking the long silence that Felix enjoyed immensely. “Sylvain is going to be at the Officer’s Academy this year. Same with Ingrid and His Highness as well.”

Felix scoffed. It was one thing to have Sylvain and Ingrid at the school with him, but to add the Boar Prince into the mix as well?

_No matter, I’ll just be at the training grounds anyway. _

“I do expect you to act like a suitable heir to this House, Felix,” Rodrigue coldly stated. “I rather not have an ‘incident’ like at the Swordsmanship Academy I sent you to a couple of years ago.”

Felix almost sneered at that comment. “Not my fault that they were all in my way and idiotic,” he replied stoically. “I was already ahead of them in my technique.”

Rodrigue sighed and put a black, leather gloved hand to his face. “Felix… That school was meant to teach you discipline, as in how to be a leader with authority so that one day you can lead House Fraldarius.”

Again, Felix scoffed. “So, the next step was to send me to some school that is the main source of the Church of Seiros faith? Makes no sense to me.”

“I went to the Officer’s Academy when I was about your age,” his father retorted. “Margrave Gautier went there, Count Galatea, and even the late His Majesty had attended. It is where great leaders learn to refine their combat and leadership skills to not only help themselves, but the people as well. Why, Gl-“

“Don’t you _dare_ start with that again.”

Silence.

The older Fraldarius couldn’t argue any more with his young son, instead going into his dark blue coat to retrieve a letter for him to read over. At times like this where it is just him and Felix forced into the same proximity, he would try to show Felix letters about dispute in the Fraldarius territory. However, this letter wasn’t a typical “We need help from bandits!” or “We need some help with farmland!” type of disputes. Instead, it was a letter. The older man gave a smile as he re-read the letter for what seemed to be the hundredth time.

“The Eternal Flames are you smirking about, old man?” Felix demanded, his amber gaze leaving the window.

Rodrigue put away the letter. “Oh, nothing. Just a letter from someone we haven’t seen in a while,” he replied casually. He then gave a small smirk. “Say, maybe at the academy you can make some new friends, maybe see a cute girl?”

Felix wanted to laugh at the sheer stupidity of his father’s words. Why did he need new friends? Sylvain and Ingrid were plenty. A cute girl? As if he had time for that…

A flash of orange hair and teal eyes crossed his mind.

Felix felt himself stiffen, making it discreet so that his father wouldn’t notice. Now _there_ was someone he hadn’t thought of in quite some time… and that caused a dull ache in his chest. He still felt guilty to what he had done to her at their last meeting.

_ YOU’RE EVIL, FELIX HUGO FRALDARIUS! _her voice echoed.

She had written so many letters to him too. He read each one and put them with his other letters that she had sent him over the years. As much as he had wanted to write back to her, as much as he would love to lay beneath a shady oak tree with his head in her lap as she sung a song, he couldn’t do it.

He needed to get stronger, that was what was important right now.

“Ah, Garreg Mach Monastery…” Rodrigue whispered in awe. “Seems like every time I return it is almost like seeing the place for the first time.”

Felix had never been to Garreg Mach before this day, so he lowered his arm that had held his face and stood up tall. He had to admit that the monastery, even in the distance, looked grand and majestic. The castle-like structure seemed to be bigger than the Royal Palace in Fhirdiad, the mountains that surrounded the stone walls protecting it. A light fog wisped around the mountains and forests, giving the outside grounds of the monastery a sense of mystery.

After another hour of two of travelling, the coach that carried the two Fraldarius men stopped outside a metal gate that lead to the market that just inside the monastery grounds. The coachman opened the door and the two Fraldarius men stepped out, Rodrigue first with Felix following.

The small market place was brimming with people, too many people to Felix’s liking. He saw a nobleman’s child with purple hair, and what looked to be a flower pinned to his coat, that was from the Alliance already demanding people taking his luggage to his room. A tall orange-haired young man did the same thing, Felix recognizing him to be the son of the Prime Minister for the Empire. So many pretentious nobles were in the same vicinity as Felix and he couldn’t stand it.

If there was one thing that he was thankful to his father for besides sword fighting it was that he wasn’t raised with a silver spoon in his mouth and to be a brat. He knew how to take care of himself and fight his own battles. In fact, most nobles from the Kingdom knew how to stand their ground in a fight. If Sylvain applied himself he could take down a gang of bandits himself. Ingrid had trained so much that she would put that purple-haired noble to shame with her abilities. The Boar Prince, Felix hated to admit it, was strong in his own right and could most likely take down a small army if provoked.

_They’re probably weak from relying on their Crests._

In Fodlan it was considered to be blessing from the Goddess that the Ten Elites that served Seiros to have Crests. These Crests symbolized power that was bestowed by the Goddess herself. One solider, Fraldrius, had a powerful Crest that was passed along over the generations of descendants. Over the years it became rarer and rarer to be born with one, which was why it was such high a proud stature that a noble would want to be associated with. Some Crests are more powerful than others, but to Felix the true strength was to use his own and not his Crest.

A knight that was part of the Knights of Seiros then began to lead Rodrigue and Felix toward the dormitories to show Felix to his room. According to the way the Officer’s Academy worked the nobles were on the second floor while commoners and lesser nobles were on the ground floor. Felix was on the second floor toward the end of the hallway, the third to last. The Boar Prince’s was the second to last while Sylvain’s was the final one.

“I had it arranged for His Highness to be between Sylvain and yourself, Felix,” Rodrigue explained as Felix was handed the key to his room. “That way if something happens-“

Felix interrupts coldly, “I’m not babysitting the Boar.” He then unlocked his room and took his luggage inside. “Forget to write.” _SLAM!_ The sound of the door locking followed.

Rodrigue took the hint and with a sigh walked away to head towards the cathedral.

The room Felix was in was small, perfect just for him to sleep. On the left wall a bed was in the middle was a bed with plain white sheets and on the opposite walls was a small desk and board with a map of the monastery. All Felix needed to know was where his classroom was, the dining hall, and the training grounds, nothing else peaked his interest. There was a note on his desk, a welcome letter to the academy and instructions to change and meet in the designated classroom. Since Felix was from the Kingdom, he was naturally in the Blue Lions House.

Hanging by the window was the school uniform, something that Felix had been dreading since his father told him that he was going to the Officer’s Academy. With a heavy sigh Felix removed his comfortable turquois coat. At least there were a few different options when it came to the uniform, he chose the one that he thought would be best suited for him to move around freely. The uniform he chose let him wear a white long-sleeved shirt, which he packed loose fitting ones for him to feel more comfortable. Once he put on his white shirt he put on the black vest with golden buttons on, the matching black slacks, and he had to replace his very well used dark brown boots with pristine white with a gold band towards the top and black at the edges of the feet. He felt extremely stupid to even be wearing this, but he had to admit it was better than the uniform her wore at his last school which was stiff and pure white. One of the only familiar things about the uniform is that male students are required to have a wooden sword sheathed on their person at all times, something he was used to with a real sword.

Once he was done changing he exited his room and locked the door. As he was about to make his way toward the stairs to leave the dormitories, he felt a familiar clap to his back.

“FELIX! It’s about time you showed up!” the voice was too laid back for their own good.

Felix turned around and saw one his oldest friends, Sylvain Gautier. Sylvain’s bright red hair was unkempt as always his brown eyes glittering with amusement, and he wore the a different form of the school uniform. Like Felix he had the white boots, black slacks, and the sword, but he opted for a three-quartered sleeved jacket with a white undershirt with gold buttons. It was obvious that the jacket was meant to be closed, but Sylvain was always the type to put a “spin” on standard wardrobe.

“Hello, Sylvain,” Felix greeted with a stoic voice. “I see you’re already causing trouble.” He gestured to the red-heads uniform.

Sylvain scoffed, “Heh, what are they going to do? _Expel_ the future head of House Gautier? Who cares!” He then began to walk past Felix. “Let’s get this first day orientation thing started. I guess this week we just hang out and get familiar with the place and next week we’ll meet our professor.”

“Seems so,” Felix agreed as he walked in pace with Sylvain.

“Do you think our professor will be hot?” A groan followed that statement as a young blonde woman punched his squarely in the stomach. “H-hey… Ingrid…”

“Don’t you ‘Hey Ingrid’ me, Sylvain!” Ingrid chastised, her green eyes hardened with anger. “You’re here for an education to learn the skills and battle prowess so you can lead your house! Take this seriously!” Her uniform was one of the most standard for the female students, a long black jacket accented with gold, long black skirt with gold that went down to a few centimeters above her knees, black tights, and knee high black boots with a gold heal and gold accent at the top. The only thing that was familiar about Ingrid was her golden blonde hair braided down her back.

“Right… right…” Sylvain heaved, still recovering from Ingrid’s gut punch.

After Sylvain recovered the three childhood friends left the dormitories and headed toward the courtyard to their class to meet the other students in their house. As they walked Felix couldn’t help but feel that they were missing something. One was the Boar Prince of course, but then there was…

Fiery orange hair in pigtail braids and bright teal eyes…

“So you know Dimitri is house leader, right guys?” Sylvain asked. “So you know he is going to be nagging me just as much as Ingrid.”

“As he should!” Ingrid retorted.

“We are also getting a couple of commoners as well…” Sylvain continued. “One is the adopted son of Lord Lonato… I met him once when my father went to Castle Gaspard for something, very shy kid. The other commoner I think she was originally from the Empire years ago… but she has been living in the Kingdom for most of her life.”

Ingrid nodded with approval. “I’m impressed Sylvain, you actually know something other than a stupid degrading pick-up line for a village girl.”

Felix then interjected, “All I know is that man from Duscur is supposed to be here as well, basically as a guard for the Boar.”

Sylvain sighed with an exasperated groan, “When are you going to stop calling His Highness that, Felix?”

“When he stops acting like an animal!” Felix snapped furiously. They were close to their classroom now.

Ingrid then looked like she remembered something. “Oh! And guess who else is going to be in our class?”

“Oh, you got a letter too?” Sylvain asked, surprise in his voice. 

"Yes! Our other classmate is going to be-“

“Annette…” Felix finished for her with a whisper.

Standing outside the Blue Lions classroom was a petite girl with orange fiery hair, the pigtail braids replaced with loops that hovered about her shoulders. Her uniform was similar to Ingrid’s, except her boots had more gold accents and she had added a black bow to the top of each one. She also carried a small blue satchel as well.

Annette was talking to a taller young woman that Felix didn’t recognize, but it didn’t matter because Annette was all he could see.

_ She didn’t really grow in four years, did she? _ Felix thought to himself with almost a smirk on his lips.

That was when her teal eyes met his amber ones for the first time in four years.

But she then turned on her heel and walked into the classroom, not even waving or smiling at Felix in acknowledgment.

_ YOU’RE EVIL, FELIX HUGO FRALDARIUS! _Her voice continued to echo in his mind.

_Indeed I am, Annette… Indeed I am… _


	3. Solo - Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annette arrives to the Officer's Academy, her thinking about her past with Felix and if they could ever rekindle their friendship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for continuing to read this! Please do go support the art that this AU fanfiction was inspired by: aster-isks on Tumblr! I'm hoping once I am on a proper laptop again and not using my tablet I can properly link to the Tumblr page.

Annette barely looked above her book that she was reading as the single horse-drawn coach gently rolled over the small twigs and rocks in the road.

She was quite nervous to be attending the Officer’s Academy, but it was what she worked so hard to achieve. The last four years at the Royal Academy of Sorcery she studied into the wee hours of the morning her reason magic to be the top student at there. While many of her peers thought she was arrogant for her knowledge and wished to not associate themselves with her, she did make one friend by the name of Mercedes von Martritz; the girls even had nicknames for each other, “Annie” and “Mercie”.

_ But he called me “Annie” too… _

The last time she saw Felix Fraldarius was when it was a month or two after the Tragedy of Duscur, after the death of the King and Queen, and the death of Glenn. She wanted to comfort Felix as she had always done in the past, but his amber eyes were hardened like glass when he screamed at her to go away and never come back. She obliged to the wishes; despite being greatly upset. She figured he needed some time to mourn his brother.

So, she waited until she was at the Royal Academy of Sorcery to write Felix a letter. Then she wrote another… then another. The next thing she knew it was about a year of never getting a response from Felix. It hurt her heart greatly, which was still fragile from Glenn’s death and her father’s disappearance, but she figured that maybe one day Felix would write back.

Although he never did, Annette still wrote to her other friends like Sylvain and Ingrid. She left out the details of her and Felix no longer speaking to each other, but in the letters that she received back it had looked like the other two childhood friends had just assumed Annette and Felix were writing to each other on a weekly basis. Once in a while she had wrote to His Highness, who would write back a letter a few months later that seemed very off topic to the original conversation.

With a sigh Annette shut her textbook on advanced fire magic and looked out the window. This coach ride to the Officer’s Academy felt a lot like the rides she would take to get to Castle Fraldarius. Back then it was a complete joy to travel there and be there for the winter months. But now… she was nervous wreck.

She thought back to the letter she sent to everyone, saying how she was going to the Officer’s Academy this year. Sylvain wrote back saying he was going and that he was excited to see different girls from different parts of Fodlan. Ingrid wrote back saying that although she was excited to be going to the academy she was worried that her father would find suitors to be her husband more frequently behind her back. When she had wrote to Felix however, it wasn’t to him it was to Rodrigue.

Of course the great Shield of Faerghus, Duke Rodrigue Fraldarius, would write back to her with a seal to expedite the delivery of the letter. He had wrote that Felix was to be attending the Officer’s Academy as well and hoped that Felix and her would rekindle their friendship.

_I hope so… _

One of her main reasons of getting into the Officer’s Academy was to find her long lost father, Gustave Dominic. He had been missing since the Tragedy of Duscur, and over the last four years she never even seen a letter from him. It was such a prestigious school to get into, and the students get to travel all around Fodlan for missions; Annette thought of that s a perfect way to try to find her father. But, she wouldn’t mind her secondary mission to be friends with Felix again.

Annette didn’t know what felt worse: Her father never writing to her or her mother or Felix never writing back to her.

Finally, the coach arrived at the Garreg Mach Monastery, the coachmen opening the door and helping her out. She held her small blue luggage in hand, ready to see what the new school had to offer. As she walked through the small marketplace that was held just inside the monastery, Annette noticed a girl with pale blonde hair that was over her shoulder tied with a bow.

“MERCIE!” Annette cried with joy as she ran up to her dear friend.

“Oh, Annie!” Mercedes greeted as she was nearly tackled by the petite redhead. “Did you just arrive?” Annette nodded enthusiastically. “Oh, that’s great, Annie! How about we get to our rooms and head to the dining hall for the luncheon they’re hosting?”

Annette didn’t need to be told that twice. She was _starving_, that little bit of food she packed for her trip did not satisfy her one bit.

Mercedes had already been to the dormitories as she was exploring the monastery, so she lead Annette right to them. Their rooms were next to each other, although Annette’s was on the higher point of the stairs that separated the greenhouse and pond area and the pathway to get to the gardens and training grounds.

Inside her room Annette put some of her items away, which was mainly books, clothes, and a little wooden doll that her father had made her. She looked at the doll sadly as she set it on her plain bed. Her uniform was hanging by the window, so she promptly dressed into it, removing her light blue dress and white shawl and replacing it with a white undershirt with her black jacket accented with gold, her black tights and skirt, and placing her navy blue boots with her black ones; she added two bows to her boots to give them a little twist. She then completed her look with a blue satchel, inside one of her magic theory books.

Once Annette was done she left her room, Mercedes waiting for her outside. Her uniform was different than Annette’s. Like Annette, Mercedes wore a white dress shirt, but towards the collar was accented had the gold design that was normally on the black jackets. Mercedes didn’t where a jacket, but a shawl that was a pale gold accented with black. Her black skirt was part of one piece that went above the waistline and just reached under her breast; most likely why she wore the shawl that she wouldn’t get that much attention. Instead of black tights she wore black stockings, and she wore the same brown boots that were part of the uniform at the Royal Academy of Sorcery.

“Ready for lunch, Annie?” Mercedes asked sweetly.

Together the two friends made their way to the dining hall, it filled to the brim with students and knights alike. The line may have been long, but it was worth getting to the food. There were steaks and cakes everywhere, there were practically _stacks_ of them.

_Oh! That could make a good song! _Annette smiled to herself, already coming up lyrics as she began to hum a melody.

The two girls sat at a crowded table, but they were the only open seats. Sitting next to Annette was a boy who looked to be her age with gray hair that looked almost silver, his bright green eyes skimming over a books as he absently ate a small cake. He took notice to the new arrivals and looked up from his book, Annette noticing that he had a splash of freckles across his face.

“Hello!” the boy greeted with a wave and a smile. “I bet that line was pretty long huh? This food is delicious!”

Mercedes was nodding in agreement as she took a bite of the fist sized piece of steak. Annette took one large bite of her cake and nearly squealed with delight.

“This stuff is amazing!” Annette gasped. “Mercie, you got to try it! Maybe you can replicate it and add something to it?”

The silver-haired boy gave a chuckle. “Oh yes, this cake is quite good. It could use some fresh picked berries and it would make it naturally sweeter.”

“You know a lot about food, um…?” Mercedes prodded.

“Ashe,” the boy replied. “My name is Ashe Ubert. I am the adopted son of Lord Lonato in the Gaspard region in the Kingdom.”

Annette gave a clap of excitement. “That means you’ll be in the Blue Lions House! I’m Annette Dominic, I’ll be in the same class too! And this is Mercedes von Martritz, she’ll be in the same class as well!”

“Dominic…?” Ashe echoed. “Oh, you so that must mean you have a Crest, right?”

Annette gave a small nod. “Just a Minor one, not a Major like-“ _Like how Felix was born with the Major Crest of Fraldarius._ She finished in her head.

“Annie, how about before we go to the orientation we take visit to the cathedral?” Mercedes suggested, noting a slight change. “I hear it is quite beautiful!”

“Can I join as well?” Ashe asked sheepishly. He looked like he was guilty, maybe he realized something changed in Annette and he felt bad for saying it?

“Of course, Ashe!” Mercedes smiled, her smile as sweet as the cake. “The more the merrier! And I am sure the Goddess will appreciate it as well!”

The trio made there way to the cathedral, it being it’s own separate building that across a small bridge. As Mercedes had said, the cathedral was beautiful, the high ceilings with depictions of the Goddess blessing the land Fodlan. Someone was playing the organ, the song filling the large space with a melody that was to be depicted as joyous, most likely to welcome the new students at Garreg Mach.

Monks, nuns, knights, and students prayed in pews or standing up. Mercedes went to her position and began to pray silently, Ashe following suit. While Annette was a bit pious, she didn’t pray as often as she used to; instead she studied more. Before Annette could get into position to pray, she noticed a tall man that stood in front of the alter, bathed in the sunlight from the tall, glass window.

“Excuse me,” Annette whispered as she excused herself and went toward the man. She knew him… this man had the same dark hair and the same confident stance as _him_ after all.

When Annette approached him the had finished praying and noticed her. His blue eyes widened with delight and a smile caused the lines by his eyes to crinkle slightly.

“Ah, Annette!” Rodrigue greeted her, him pulling her into a hug. “My, my, it has been a while!”

“H-Hello… Rod…rigue!” Annette managed to gasps as her lungs were being squeezed out of any air.

Rodrigue released her from the hug and pushed her arms length away from him. “Ha! You take after your mother, you have barely grown a centimeter since I last saw you!”

Annette blushed with embarrassment. She was a little short in stature compared to many other girl her age, and her shortness also made her smaller in… other areas that she rather not think about.

“Oh, I think Felix is going to have a heart attack when he sees you it has been so long!” Rodrigue continued. “I do apologize on behalf of my son, since Glenn’s death he has been under a lot of pressure as the heir to House Fraldarius, but it seems he has neglected you more than he should have.”

Annette had a feeling that Felix was still mourning in some way about Glenn, maybe the way he had pushed her away was just part of his process. However, when Glenn and Felix’s mother passed away, he didn’t want to leave her side for weeks, even the two sleeping in the same bed every night during that time. She still felt hurt that Felix would push her away so suddenly with Glenn’s death.

“Is… is Felix around?” Annette asked cautiously, her teal eyes giving a glance around.

Rodrigue gave a small huff. “I don’t think Felix would be caught _dead_ in here, he hasn’t been very pious that last few years,” he admitted. “I escorted him to his room and he slammed the door in my face. I’m hoping Sylvain or Ingrid can sort him out.”

“Annie!” Mercedes called. “We should be heading to our classroom to meet the others!”

“Okay!” Annette called back. She then gave a small curtsy to Rodrigue, as she had always done when she was younger. “I’ll write to you soon, Rodrigue.”

“I’ll be looking forward to the letter,” the older man replied.

“Who was that, Annie?” Mercedes asked, her violet eyes darting to Rodrigue, whom had promptly went back to praying. Annette gave one last look to Rodrigue before exiting the cathedral.

“A family friend,” she answered.

“Duke Fraldarius is a family friend!?” Ashe gasped in excitement. “The ‘Shield of Faerghus’?”

Annette nodded as the trio began walking to the courtyard that lead to the classrooms. “Um… yeah. I’ve known him since I was small. I know His Highness as well. Count Galatea’s daughter is a friend of mine as well as the son of Margrave Gautier,” she explained.

Mercedes gives Annette an almost sad look. Back in their days at the Royal Academy of Sorcery Annette would talk a little bit of her childhood friends. There was one she was particularly close to, but when pushed Annette never went into any details. But the way Duke Fraldarius looked at her…

“So, that must mean you know Felix Fraldarius as well, correct, Annie?” Mercedes guessed. “I think you mentioned him one or twice before.”

Annette visibly flinched at the sound of his name. “Uh… yeah, a little…” she nervously said.

“A little?” Ashe countered. “The way the Duke was looking at you it was almost like he was talking to a daughter.” They had then made it to the classroom. “Oh! I’m going to see if anyone else had arrived! I’ll see you two soon!” He rushed inside the room, almost bumping into a tall, tanned skin man with white hair in the process.

Annette and Mercedes stood in front of the classroom, Mercedes determined to get an honest answer from the redhead. “Annie… those times when you wrote those countless letters and cried when you never got a response, were they because Felix never wrote you back?” the older girl asked gently.

Annette looked to her friend. “N-No!” she stammered a lie. When the older girl’s eyes just continued to stare, Annette broke, “Yes… yes… I cried because of him. He was my _best friend…_ and he decided to cut contact all of a sudden.”

That was when she felt someone staring at her.

She gently glanced to her right and her teal eyes met those amber eyes she was so used to in her youth. 

Annette’s heart turned cold and fell to the pit of her stomach. Without saying another word she turned her heel and headed inside the classroom. She felt as though she was going to vomit, her heart beating so fast that she felt that her pulse was visible for the world to see. Sweat dotted her light ginger brows, and she felt her hands shaking.

_He has changed so much but at the same time he didn’t…_

Felix had grown considerably since their last meeting, him being at least as tall as Glenn before he had passed. Instead of his black hair being pulled into a small ponytail, Felix had it in a bun. His normally turquois clothing that was lined with warm furs was replaced by a variation of the male school uniform.

Those amber eyes are the same though, a trait he inherited from his mother; they were either almost like liquid honey when he was happy or they were hard as the amber stone itself when angry. His facial features were a little sharper than she remembered, him starting to resemble Glenn and even Rodrigue.

Annette wonders if he even cared about how much he hurt her. She wondered if he could even fathom the amount of tears she cried for him. She wondered if he knew that she still cared for him.


	4. Dynamics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felix talks to Annette for the first time in four years, but it doesn't turn out well like he thought it would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading and supporting this series!  
Again, this series would not be possible without the artwork by aster-isks on Tumblr that inspired it!

_Dynamics: the relative volume in the execution of a piece of music _

“Wow… what did you do that made her that mad?” Sylvain’s voice snapped Felix back to reality.

He thought she would wave at him, smile, _something_.

_ I guess I can’t really blame her… _

“Felix,” Ingrid began gently. “Has something happened between the two of you?”

Felix stood tall, trying to be as straight as he could. He is good at hiding his emotions, he has had years of practice. Stoically, he replied, “Nothing at all.”

“I call bullshit on that, Felix,” Sylvain exasperated, gesturing his hands to his friend. “You and Annette were joined at the hip practically. She would’ve run right to you and give you a big hug just now.”

Felix hated how observant Sylvain could be. Sylvain may be a skirt-chasing fool, but he was surprisingly intelligent. It also didn’t help that the tall redhead has known Felix for years and happens to know a lot of tells when Felix is lying; such as right now when Felix was clenching his fists as tight as possible, his knuckles turning white.

Ingrid’s green eyes hardened like emeralds. “What did you do, Felix?” she demanded harshly.

Felix tried his best to stare Ingrid down, amber versus emerald. Their gazes were locked for a good ten seconds until finally Felix looked away.

“Look, we grew up-“ Felix tried to explain but was immediately cut off by Ingrid.

“Don’t try to give me that excuse!” she snapped. “We still made contact and saw each other, correct? What did you do to Annette?”

Felix finally snapped, “Duscur.” That was all he said and he stomped off to inside the classroom.

The classroom was spacious, long desks were littered with papers and quills. At the front of the room was a small podium with a blackboard behind it, most likely for the professor when they arrive. The crowned Prince of Fearghus, Dimitri Blaiddyd, stood at the podium, his blonde hair over his face slightly. As House Leader his uniform was drastically different than the others. He still wore black slacks like the other boys, but his black jacket was much more pristine and seemed more like a General’s jacket. He wore a cobalt blue cape that was attached to his jacket by a gold clasp over his upper left chest.

To many people Dimitri looked like what a true prince is meant to look like. Tall, focused, and ready to lead anyone. Felix knew better however.

After the Tragedy of Duscur two years later, Dimitri served as a commander against a small rebellion that was in western Faerghus. Felix had attended as well, his first taste of a real battle. He had never seen a person act so animal-like in all his life until he saw his dear friend Dimitri slaughter people with a mad smile on his face. Dimitri had become an animal; he had become a Boar.

“Good afternoon, everyone,” Dimitri announced once everyone was seated at desks. Felix could see that Annette sat toward the front with the tall woman she was with earlier and sitting next to a young boy with gray hair. “It is good to see familiar faces along with some new ones. In case any of you do not know, my name is Dimitri Blaiddyd, the crown Prince of Faerghus, but while we are here at the Academy, I am your classmate; so please, drop the formalities.

“This year we will be taking on missions tasked to us by the Church of Seiros to learn about combat, to become knights, to became leaders of our own men and women in our territories. By the end of the week we will meet our professor and start our journey here.”

Felix scoffed at the Boar Prince’s speech. When they were kids they were close friends, but ever since that rebellion, ever since Duscur, Dimitri had changed drastically. Because of Dimitri’s mental wellbeing it seemed that Felix’s own father rather be a father to Boar then to his only living son, causing Felix to be even more estranged with Rodrigue. No matter, as this gave Felix plenty of time to train to get stronger.

_Then why do I still feel like I’m missing something? _

Subconsciously he glanced at Annette, who was chatting away with the tall woman and the gray haired boy. What was she doing these last four years? Felix knew she was studying her reason magic at the Royal Academy of Sorcery, but he wondered if she continued practicing with her axe; he subconsciously rubbed the spot on the top of his head where he had a bump for weeks after she struck him when the two were sparring as children.

He needed to talk to her, make things right for what he said four years ago to her. But would she even forgive him? Annette was the type to hold grudges, if she could ignore Sylvain for three months because he hid her favorite wood doll on her, who knows how long her grudge for Felix would last?

I_ wouldn’t forgive me either… _

Dimitri then dismissed the class, saying for them all to meet up and talk to each other. Annette had went and hugged Dimitri, something he had always done, and Felix could hear her and Boar talking like everything was perfectly fine.

“Are you Felix Fraldarius by chance?” a soft voice asked gently. It was so sudden that Felix nearly jumped, but he realized it was the woman who was talking to Annette earlier. “I’m only taking a guess here, you look a lot like the man that was in the cathedral and he was talking to Annie.”

Felix bit the inside of his mouth. Of course his father was still here… and he talked to Annette!?

“I am Felix,” he answered her levelly. “And you are?”

“Oh, I am Mercedes von Martritz,” the woman replied sweetly. “I am a friend of Annie’s from the Royal Academy of Sorcery.” She then gave Felix such a cold look with her violet eyes. “You know you hurt her, right? She wrote to you for a year and you never responded…”

“HE DID WHAT NOW!?”

“Oh shit…” Felix muttered, knowing that screech from anywhere. Suddenly, his ear was being pulled as he was being practically dragged from the classroom. “Ingrid! Stop! I’ll come with you willingly, just stop pulling my ear! That hurts!”

Ingrid dragged him outside, Sylvain trailing behind. “You haven’t talked to Annette in four years, Felix!?” she began, her sentence all within one breath it seemed like. “How could you do that to her!?”

“Look, I understand how shitty I am-“ Felix tried to say, but this time Sylvain cut him off.

“And I thought _I_ broke girls’ hearts pretty bad,” the redhead half-joked. “I get you’re upset still about Glenn’s death and how Rodrigue treated you, but that is no-“

“_Shut up.”_ Felix’s voice was barely above a whisper, but it was full of venom and threat. He took a deep breath. “I will talk to her… I will apologize. But what she does is her business after that.”

Ingrid was still fuming, her face flushed red with anger. “I guess that is a start…” she muttered. “I just can’t believe you of all people treated her like that.”

“Neither can I…” was all Felix said as he headed towards the training grounds.

**

The rest of the week went by fast at Garreg Mach, more students arriving by the day and meeting with their House Leaders.

Felix had spent his week at the training grounds, running his training sword through dummy after dummy. In the corner the sword instructor, Jeritza, stood watching closely, his violet eyes being the only noticeable thing behind his mask. Felix didn’t ask for any advice and Jeritza never gave any, he was the perfect professor in Felix’s opinion, he just stood there and stayed quiet.

The new professor for the Blue Lions had just arrived the day before, a female with dark navy blue hair and bluish-purple eyes, and seemingly emotionless. She was the daughter of the legendary mercenary Jeralt “The Blade Breaker” Eisner, who had now taken over his former position as Captain of the Knights of Seiros. Felix met her briefly, learned that her name was Byleth, and saw that she was extremely talent in swordsmanship, so in a way he was excited to have her as a professor and see what she can teach him.

The Boar was immediately infatuated with the Professor, Felix noticed. The Boar liked to follow her around and ask if she had any questions for him. She did take him up on that offer, him giving her a proper tour of the monastery. When they had arrived at the training grounds, the Boar had the nerve to talk to Felix.

“Felix, have you spoken with Annette, yet?” Dimitri had asked him. “I heard from Sylvain and Ingrid that you two had stopped talking…”

“I’ll get to it when I get to it!” Felix had snapped as he sliced off a training dummy’s straw head. “Now, leave me be.”

Now it was the next day as Felix finished up training for the day. In his mind he was trying to figure out the best plan to approach Annette. He doesn’t expect things to go back to what they used to be between them, but he wants to try to make amends. When he went to the classroom to see if the Annette was there, there was only the Professor and the gray-haired boy, Ashe.

“So, there is going to be a mock battle, Professor?” Ashe asked shyly. “You just arrived! Is it some sort of test?”

“Seems to be,” the Professor replied in monotone. She never showed any emotion or put emotion into her voice. Felix couldn’t tell if that was years of training as a mercenary or if that was how she was born. Either way, it sometimes rubbed him the wrong way. “This is a perfect opportunity to see how each of you are in your skill level. That way in future lessons I can put you all on the right path. You yourself are an archer, correct, Ashe?”

“Yes, Professor,” Ashe stated. “My older adoptive brother, Christophe, taught me.”

Before Felix could be caught snooping on the conversation, he left.

_ So, there is to be a mock battle, eh? _

Within the next week the day of the mock battle had arrived, Felix having trained everyday for hours straight after battle tactics in class. All the students from each House were lead to a decent sized field that was just outside of Garreg Mach. This was the first time Felix saw every student from the Black Eagles and the Golden Deer.

The House Leader for the Black Eagles was a petite young woman with snow white hair and piercing purple eyes. She looked determined, a fire in her eyes that burned with a mission to win. She was Edelgard von Hresvelg, the Imperial Princess from the Adestrian Empire. Her House was full of students that were children of generals and ministers of various departments. They were going to be a tough House to fight against.

The Golden Deer’s House Leader was a mystery of a young man. He had tanned skin that seemed very unlikely to have in the Leicester Alliance, but his forest green eyes was bright with mischief and curiosity. He was Claude von Riegan, the recently in the last year announced heir to the Leicester Alliance after the mysterious death of Godfrey only a year ago, who was the leader of the Alliance, and grandson to the current Duke Riegan, whom had re-taken his position after the death of his son. It seemed like Claude didn’t know much about Fodlan, always studying up on it and asking questions. His House however had the most amount of commoners, each with a special ability it seemed like; it wouldn’t be wise to underestimate them.

As this was a mock battle, everyone had training weapons, but they would still hurt and cause some damage if the right strength was applied. The professors – Manuela, Hanneman, and Byleth – were serving as the commanders of the Houses; Professor Manuela lead the Black Eagles while Professor Hanneman lead the Golden Deer. Professor Byleth was a talented young tactician Felix notices, as with one glance at the other Houses she was already telling her students which position to take. The one part of the Professor’s plan that Felix was a little nervous about was the Annette and him were working closely by each other.

“You two seem to have great dynamics,” she had said when she looked at her notes that she brought with her. “According to both of your tests here and your results you two seem pretty compatible for a chance of victory.”

Captain Jeralt was announcing the mock battle, him making sure each House was ready to go. When he had went to Professor Byleth he had whispered something in her ear. Her face showed nothing of course, and all she did was give a small nod.

“Everyone ready?” Captain Jeralt called, him standing next to a green haired man named Seteth. “Mock battle… BEGIN!”

Already per the Professor’s plan the Blue Lions went into their positions. Ashe went toward the right to block off any of the Black Eagles and shoot from a safe distance in the woodlands, Sylvain followed suit along with Dedue for front position. Dimitri and Mercedes headed center, that way to intercept any Golden Deer or Black Eagles heading toward the center of the field; the Professor was right behind. Felix, Ingrid, and Annette went to the left, more toward the Golden Deer, with Annette in the rear to do long distance with her reason magic, and Felix was front and center more in the open facing the Golden Deer.

The Black Eagles main lance user, Ferdinand, had went ahead despite the orders of Edelgard toward the woodlands where Ashe, Deude, and Sylvain waited. Ashe using this opportunity had quickly notched and shot his arrows, hitting Ferdinand square in his chest, while distracted with the arrows Sylvain finished him by using his own lance and knocked him down.

“Ferdinand, OUT!” Jeralt called from the sidelines.

Before Sylvain could even celebrate he was being furiously attacked by fire magic from the Black Eagles’ mage, Dorothea. Sylvain tried to retreat back into the woodlands, where Ashe was climbing a tree swiftly and notching more arrows, but he was finally knocked down with a hiss.

“Sylvain, OUT!” Jeralt called again.

In the center Dimitri was calling an order toward the Professor to head to the left to help Ashe out while Mercedes launched a heal spell for Dimitri. Dimitri went and took down Raphael, a Golden Deer, with swift movements, despite Raphael’s cover being the Golden Deer archer, Ignatz, desperately shooting arrows at Dimitri.

The Golden Deer’s two lance users, Leonie and Lorenz, headed toward Felix on the left. He dodged their strikes perfectly and landed a blow to Lorenz’s back causing him to crumple but not be fully down. Just as Lorenz tried to get up he was knocked back by Annette’s wind magic, causing him to crash to the ground. Leonie managed to dodge a jab from Ingrid, but her goal wasn’t the blonde but to take down the long distance magic user, Annette.

_ Damn it!_ Felix couldn’t just rush back to help Annette, that would leave Ingrid wide open for Claude to snipe her with an arrow.

Annette didn’t need help however, as she rushed forward to meet with Leonie and pulled out her training axe. With a flick of her wrist Annette swung her axe with expertise, hitting Leonie at her thigh. Leonie went and swung her lance, tripping Annette, but before the young mage could hit the ground she used a wind spell to propel herself back up and swung her axe again, knocking Leonie to the ground.

By the time Annette had dealt with Leonie, Claude had already taken out Ingrid, despite Felix trying to rush at him, leaving just only Felix as the main front line. Felix took this opportunity to fall back slightly, getting him closer to Annette.

_“You two seem to have great dynamics._” The Professor’s voice echoed in the back of his head.

“That was a great move you did back there,” Felix complimented, his amber eyes sill focused in front of him.

“The first thing you say to me in four years and it was that?!” Annette shouted in disbelief, her axe strapped to her side and her hands readying another spell.

“Uh… Sorry?”

“WATCH OUT!” Dimitri’s voice called from the center line.

It had seemed that the Black Eagles’ Petra, the Princess of Brigid, had snuck around the back lines to take out Ignatz, Mercedes, and even Dimitri; Claude had made a tactical retreat towards some woodlands on the left side. Petra ran forward, lunging herself toward Felix, who parried her sword like it was child’s play. He had to admit that she had great speed and strength, but it was still no match for his own.

After Petra dodged one of his attacks she faked him out and headed for Annette, who had been trying to blast her with wind spells from a few paces away. The sparks of magic that normally came out of her hands sputtered, signaling that she was running out of energy. Petra saw this as her chance and took a swing at Annette, a fierce look in her eyes. But instead of connecting with Annette, who had a hard time trying to get her axe out to try to parry, the sword connected with Felix’s arm.

The sound was a loud _crack_ sound as Felix groaned in pain. It was his main sword arm, and he let it fall limp to his side as switched the sword to his left, he swung his sword, striking Petra down. The Brigid Princess fell to the ground, her giving a small smirk.

“You two make a team that is best!” Petra told them in her broken accent. Apparently she was still trying to get a grasp of speaking the language, but her reading and writing was perfect.

As Petra walked off the battlefield Jeralt had announced that the Blue Lions had one the mock battle. Annette put her attention to Felix and looked at his arm, seeing that it was already swelling and turning purple.

“Why did you do that, you dolt!?” She chastised him, worry in her voice as she noticed Felix winced at her touching his arm. “We’re not little kids anymore, I can take of myself!”

“Have to make it up to you somehow I guess…” Felix muttered as he went to turn away.

“Don’t turn away from me again, Felix…” he heard her quiver. When he glanced at her he saw that her teal eyes were glittered with tears. “Why did you even stop talking to me to begin with?” Before Felix could even try to muster up an answer, Annette ran away crying, her arm to her face to try to block from anyone seeing her tears. Felix stood there, a dead feeling inside his chest, as his arm throbbed painfully.

_ That was not how I wanted our first conversation to go…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know if the fight scenes need some work! In the past I have wirtten stories involving guns and such, so these types of weapons were a little harder to write about.


	5. A Capella

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Blue Lions go through some battles and become closer to each other as allies.  
Felix hears something that he has longed to hear in years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Speacial thanks to aster-isks on Tumblr for the Childhood AU story idea!  
Support the original artwork!  
*NOTE: The original C-Support conversation was tweaked to help with the Childhood AU narrative!*

_A Capella: without instrumental accompaniment_

* * *

A week had passed after the mock battle that the Blue Lions had won, going from Great Tree Moon to Harpstring Moon.

That whole week Felix had spent some time in the infirmary being healed with white magic by Professor Manuela and being re-broken again to make sure the bones in his arm were being healed properly. The fact that he wasn’t allowed even to look at the training grounds had agitated him to no end.

Throughout the week, as Felix was not allowed to train, he stayed in his room for the most part studying for once. Professor Byleth had said to him that he actually had a budding talent in reason magic, so he decided to read a little bit about it; although his theory to why he knows reason was because of Annette when the two would spend blizzards in Fraldarius territory in the library. It was Annette’s birthday this month… so he had actually bought her nice sweet cake and left it at her door anonymously; when they were children her mother would make her a cake for her birthday herself from scratch, and Felix figured that cake he bought would make a nice replacement.

He noticed on days when he didn’t leave his room much that there was food left at his doorstep, mainly spicy meats and an unsweetened cake. There were notes in familiar handwriting stating that they noticed he wasn’t eating and that they left an unsweetened cake as they know he didn’t like sweets.

Felix knew that these were from Annette, even if she didn’t sign them. Did she realize it was him that left her the cake for her birthday? Maybe she was warming up to him again after their four-year silence? Either way, when he saw her handwriting, he couldn’t help but feel that the constant aching in his chest lightened a little.

By the end of the week Felix’s arm was healed fully, him able to go back to the training grounds. That was when the Professor stated that the Blue Lions were having their first mission: to rid the bandits that were outside of Garreg Mach. This would be most of the students first time killing a live human being, and that made Felix feel uneasy that Annette would be forced to kill someone in the name of the Church of Seiros.

When it was a new week in class, the Professor was quite impressed on how fast Felix was picking up on reason. She continued giving him work and books regarding reason magic. The Professor had even suggested working more with Annette in that area.

“I’ll… think about it…” Felix had told Byleth, him still kicking himself from his and Annette’s first words to each other in four years.

“From what I understand is that you two grew up together,” Byleth had pointed out, her eyes flickering with curiosity. “Why is it that you two drifted apart?”

Felix had visibly flinched at that question. “Some things… are just better left unsaid.”

“Dimitri had mentioned that your brother passed during the Tragedy of Duscur… is that a reason?”

“Did he now…?” Felix had replied, his blood boiling. “The Boar has no right to discuss about my life to other people, I suggest you tell him that next time you see him, because if I am the one that has to tell him it is not going to end well for him.”

The Professor had dropped the conversation after that.

Now it was the end of the Harpstring Moon, where their mission was to go to the Red Canyon to defeat the bandits. The Blue Lions departed for the Red Canyon, which in Felix’s opinion didn’t look very red at all. When it was time to march forward and kill the bandits, Felix was prepared as he had killed before, his hands practically itching for his iron sword.

The battle commenced. The bandits rushed in on the bridge, trying to get to the students. These students may be children, and many of them are of big noble Houses, but they weren’t soft. The students in the Blue Lions House were practically soldiers at this point because of their upbringing.

Felix could tell that Ingrid and Sylvain were a little uncomfortable killing someone, but they understood that it was their duty to do so. Ashe had looked stricken for killing someone, but something in his eyes told Felix that it was not the first time he had witnessed a death as brutal as this. Mercedes had prayed to the Goddess at her kill, asking for forgiveness and for the souls of the dead to find their way to the Goddess. The Boar and Dedue however, Felix knew they knew how to kill.

Annette was who Felix was truly worried for. He had kept an eye on her throughout their march to the Red Canyon, noting that her teal eyes were hardened like a rare gemstone. When he saw her make her first kill, using a combination of an iron axe and a cutting wind spell, she had reacted the complete opposite of what he thought she would.

“I did it! See? I’m a great fighter!” Annette practically cheered.

_That’s… worrisome… _

The students had gone in two different directions to get to the leader of the bandits, causing the leader and whatever bandits were left to be surrounded. The leader of the bandits happened to be the same one that had chased down Dimitri, Claude, and Edelgard to Jeralt’s mercenary group, where they had their fateful meeting with Byleth. Byelth had ended that bandit’s life quickly, resulting their mission to end.

As the students marched back to Garreg Mach Felix had faltered behind to be by Annette. She didn’t seem phased about this battle, her teal eyes looking straight ahead.

“Are… are you okay?” Felix asked her softly, trying not to get the attention of Ingrid or Sylvain. “That was… your first kill wasn’t it?”

Annette gave him a side glance. “My first kill yes, but not my first battle. I’m just happy I managed to do something myself.”

“What battle were you in before?” Felix practically demanded. How was she in a battle before?

_And I wasn’t there to help her! _

“One time my coach was attacked on the way home from the Royal Academy of Sorcery by some bandits and thieves,” Annette lightly explained, a little too light in Felix’s opinion. “I managed to weaken them while the few guards my Uncle sent to fetch me did the killing blow.”

“Your Uncle…?” Felix asked, quite perplexed. “Isn’t your father the Head of House Dominic?”

Annette gave the raven-haired young man such a hard look that it could compete with Ingrid’s. “If you had actually talked to me you would’ve known that after Duscur my father went missing. My Uncle took on the title Baron Dominic and kept my mother and I safe.” Her words were like ice, making the dull ache in Felix’s chest tighten.

“My father never mentioned it…” Felix then said. He really didn’t know what to say at that. He had always remembered Baron Gustave Dominic being around the castle in Fhirdiad… and that was the problem. Gustave was a knight through and through for the crown, and Felix remembered vividly on how much training he gave to the Boar.

_ Guess her old man and mine aren’t so different when it comes to the Boar… _

“That’s the main reason why I came to the Officer’s Academy…” Annette admitted. “my father had always been extremely pious, and Garreg Mach is the largest Church in Fodlan, so I figured he might be here. Or, if we travel for missions like today I could take search all over Fodlan.”

“Sounds like a waste of time to me,” Felix sputtered. “If he cares more about the Boar than you then it is time to cut ties.” “

As much as I want to do that, I can’t,” whispered Annette. “I just can’t…” She then ran off ahead to go walk with Mercedes, her head hanging low. Was she hiding tears?

_There I go again… _

**

When her axe sliced through the bandit’s arm like it was a dinner roll at the dining hall, a rush of exhilaration went through her veins.

Annette had fought in a battle before, but even then she was rescued by the guards her Uncle had sent. This time it was her that protected herself. No Father, no Uncle, no guards, and no Felix. Over the years she had grown stronger with her axe prowess and her reason magic; she can hold her own in a fight.

The Professor had even stated that Annette had great authority skills and pushed her into studying more on that. According to the Professor, once Annette took a certification exam to be a Monk she could possibly lead her own battalion. With that information and with the tools was given, Annette had studied night after night after the mock battle.

When Annette wasn’t studying she was taking light strolls around the monastery, noting the spring flowers being in bloom. Her birthday was in the spring, the ninth day of the Harpstring Moon, and she could practically smell the cake her mother baked for her every year as a child.

_Felix really never ate the cake though… _

Even as children Felix did not like to eat sweets. He had always given his portion to Annette, and he would give a small smile when she had squealed in delight. Felix would take at least one bite of the cake her mother had made, just to be polite; she’d purposely give him a tiny slice of cake knowing he was just going to give it to Annette anyway.

While reminiscing in her memories, Annette had almost didn’t notice that there was a small package by her door. It was wrapped in a light purple paper with a green bow tied around it. Curious, she picked it up and unwrapped it. Inside was a small chocolate cake with delicate white flowers made of frosting. There had been a tiny note attached to the box written in a familiar, rough scrawl.

_“Happy Birthday, Annette” _ was all that was written on the note.

Annette had smiled at the sight of the small gift, knowing who it was from.

_He remembered… _

So, Annette being who she was, had kept a close eye on Felix during his healing phase of his broken arm. When he wouldn’t leave his room she would leave covered food in the hallway in front of his door with little notes. She had known he was eating the food too as the next day she would notice him returning the tray and silverware with the assistance of Sylvain; Felix’s arm had been put in a black sling so his arm could heal properly.

Now, the mission of defeating the bandits was over, Annette’s beating heart starting to finally slow down after her exhilarating first kill. When Felix asked if she was okay, she could see that his amber eyes were a warm, golden honey, full of concern and worry for her wellbeing. Felix had seemed shocked when Annette told him that she had been in a battle before, a look on his face that she recognized as guilt; his eyes even flashed in guilt when not knowing that her Uncle took on the role of Baron Dominic after he father’s disappearance.

She walked along with Mercedes after her conversation with Felix, struggling to stop the tears from flowing. Annette didn’t know why she let’s Felix get to her like this, many other people would’ve just “cut ties” as he had put it when she told him about Gustave. But she felt like she can’t… or more like she wouldn’t.

_I _know_ he is still grieving about Glenn… it really affected him. _

As children, Glenn was almost like an older brother to her as well. He had taught her some basics of fencing after all, something she has adapted into little dances from time to time. Annette could see that Glenn was gentle and caring to Felix, especially when Rodrigue would try to push the same things that he taught Glenn to the younger Fraldarius. Glenn knew that Felix was his own person, not a second version of him, and he treated his younger brother as such. It was now clear since Glenn’s death that Rodrigue had been putting the same pressure and ideals into Felix as he had done with Glenn to make a proper heir for the House.

“Are you thinking about Felix?” Mercedes gentle voice broke through Annette’ thoughts. “You were talking to him for a little bit… that’s a start right?”

“He’s still grieving… that much I can tell with him…” Annette admitted. “He’s been shutting people out since his brother’s death. Now I can see why Glenn acted like Felix does now: they both hate that Rodrigue is pushing so much on to them…”

The next couple of weeks the Professor had taken the students out to the fields for training. They fought against the knights that were part of the Kingdom and took out a few bandit groups that were harassing the nearby towns and villages. Annette still executed her reason magic perfectly, but she liked to use her axe as well; she can’t rely on magic all the time as it can be very limiting.

For each practice battle, it was almost like Felix and Annette were gravitated to each other. If a bandit got too close to Felix when he wasn’t fully paying attention, Annette would blast them with a wind spell. If an archer would so much as aim an arrow in Annette’s direction, Felix was there to deflect it and rush in a slice through the archer. When they battled so close to each other, it was almost like a lethal dance.

When it was a free day finally, the Professor saying all the students could take the week off with no lessons, and all Annette wanted to do was relax. What she loved to do on a free day was go to the greenhouse and water the plants to take her mind off of magic theory or battles. Once she entered the greenhouse and discovered she was alone, she took in a deep breath and felt the tension in her shoulders release.

She grabbed a watering can and went to the little basin of water and filled it, ready to water the plants. Under her breath she was muttering some words, almost like trying to find a beat. Then finally, to make her feel fully relaxed she began to sing.

“_Today’s dinner is steak and then a cake that’s yummy yum… Now it’s time to fill my tummy tummy tum~!”_ She was watering the herbs and vegetables that were being grown for the kitchens, her moving her feet in a dance. “_Oh, this mountain of sweets, and treats that I long to eats… Oh, stacks of steaks and cakes and crumbs and yums~!” _

“I hope I’m not interrupting,” a voice cut in.

Annette spun around, the remaining water sloshing over the rim of the water can, soaking through her black tights.

“FELIX!” she squealed in embarrassment. “You weren’t listening, were you?”

Felix gave a light shrug. “I know enough to know that you’re hungry.”

Annette went red in the face. “No! I mean… Well, yes.” She indeed was hungry, that night’s dinner was steaks and cakes like the first day she arrived to Garreg Mach. “At least tell me you didn’t see the dance?”

Felix gave a slight smile, not one of his sarcastic smirks he usually gave. “You have nice footwork. I guess those fencing lessons from my brother really stuck with you.”

Annette was surprised to hear him say that. This was the first time Felix has brought up Glenn to her after his passing. But… she was still embarrassed that Felix was practically _spying_ on her!

_I was just trying to have a peaceful Sunday! _

“YOU’RE EVIL, FELIX!” she screamed at him, her face burning brighter than Sylvain’s red hair.

The raven-haired man frowned. “And _you’re_ shouting,” he deadpanned.

Annette furrowed her brows in anger. “You can’t just spy on people while they’re singing without even saying anything! It’s not right!”

Felix rolled his amber eyes. “I actually did call out that I was coming in,” he stated. “It’s not my fault you didn’t hear.” He then gave a light sigh, “And besides, you sang a lot when we were kids, everyone loved it.”

“That was different when we were kids!” Annette cried out. “We were kids!” She then quickly added, “And you need to speak louder! Ugh… this is so embarrassing… and of course I was singing some silly food song I made up. I should have been singing about… bears! Or swamp beasties!”

It looked as though Felix was trying his hardest not to smile fully. “I didn’t realize there were songs about bears and swamp beasties,” he said, a smile hinting in his voice. “That food song seemed to be close to your heart. Your stomach isn’t far from your heart after all.”

“Oh, you’re the worst!” she shouted in anger.

“Been called worse, and you know that, Annette,” Felix pointed out. “And like I said before… you sang songs like this all the time when were kids. Remember in the springtime we would sit under that one tree watching the flowers bloom on it? You’d sing about those and the birds, and-“

“OH, STOP IT!” Annette screamed, her eyes brimming with tears as she ran out of the greenhouse.

**

When he heard her sing for the first time in four years, all the aching and dullness he felt in his chest were immediately uplifted, something that had been _crushing_ him for years.

He was walking by the greenhouse to get to the stairs that lead to his dorm room after training. When he heard singing, he had stopped dead in his tracks in familiarity. The singing felt like _home_. The way the melody went, the tone, the silliness of it all… it was home.

Felix poked his head inside the greenhouse and saw the familiar fiery orange hair. She sang without a care in the world, a smile wide on her face as she danced around watering the plants. Felix recognized the footwork as it was the fencing positions that Glenn had taught them years ago when they were still pretty young; Annette may not have been good with a sword, but she had the agility and footwork for it.

It reminded him instantly of when they were children. Annette would sing about just about anything and everything. If she saw a bird fly by, she’d sing about it. A petal off of a flower from the tree they’d sit under would fall and she’d make a song about it. As children her voice when she sang was high and young, but it carried well. Now… after so many years later her voice developed more maturely and sounded almost like silver bells in his ears.

Of course he has heard other types of singing. Ingrid’s was terrible as she was always out of tune. Dorothea’s, from what Felix has heard, was too high and serious and just not his style. He’s even heard Hilda, the pinked haired axe demon from the Golden Deer House, sing and to him it just sounded off. But when Annette sang… it just filled his chest with warmth, it reminded him so much of his mother singing to him gently for him to go sleep when he was still a toddler.

_When Mother had passed, Annette would sing Mother’s lullabies to me to help me sleep… _

In a way he regretted interrupting Annette and her “Steaks and Cakes” song she was singing, as of course she yelled at him. Felix didn’t understand why she was so upset with him hearing her sing and seeing her dance. As always, he thought her singing was great and he loved every second of it. Even with her singing without any type of music, her voice was musical and carried perfectly.

After Annette had ran away from the greenhouse, it just left Felix alone with a half-empty watering can and a bunch of dry plants. Gingerly, he picked up the watering can and took it to the water basin to fill it fully. Before he began to water the rest of the plants he gave a loud sigh.

“Huh… What was that about?” Felix honestly could not wrap around his head why she was upset at him for it. “I better water these plants. Wouldn’t want them to get thirsty, or they may start singing too,” he added to no one in particular. As he began to water the plants, he hummed to the tune of her latest song.

He had really missed her singing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading! I know this one was a little long, but I wanted to get both POV for Felix and Annette.


	6. Dolce

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Both Annette and Felix remember a vivid memory from when they were children.  
Felix remembers his mother's singing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to aster-isks on Tumblr for the Childhood AU idea!  
Please check out their Tumblr to see their art!

_Dolce: Italian for sweet, sweetly; an indication to play in a tender, adoring manner _

* * *

What happened in the greenhouse was embarrassing, Annette’s face was still burning red when she had ran back to her room that day.

Luckily, her room wasn’t too far from the greenhouse, so she was able to avoid most people.

As she had rushed to her room, Claude had tried to stop her.

“Hey, Annette,” Claude had called out, him giving a slight smirk and a wave. “What’s with the red face?” He almost had a teasing tone to him.

“N-nothing!” Annette stammered as she went to her room and slammed the door.

Inside her room she slid down her door, her face in her hands. Annette could feel that her face was burning with humiliation. With a groan she took her hands off her face and gently hit the back of her head to her door.

It was true what Felix had said in the greenhouse. As children she would sing so many types of songs about many things. Her mother and Felix’s mother greatly enjoyed her singing, and it was obvious that Felix liked it too; even Glenn had enjoyed it. She used to love to hear Felix’s mother sing as well, she had always sounded so pretty, especially her lullabies. But she thought at this point she would outgrow her own silly and non-practical songs. Annette still remembered what her father had said to her a few weeks before he disappeared.

“_You’re going to be a wife one day, Annette,”_ Gustave’s voiced echoed in her head. “_Your husband is going to be of a very noble House, so you need to act like a noble Lady. Your songs are a little childish.” _

The way he had said that to her made it sound like a husband was already picked out for her. It churned her stomach. Arranged marriages were extremely common in the Kingdom still, although that practice had died out in the Empire and was mostly dying out in the Alliance. Her mother used to talk to Felix’s mother about the arranged marriages as they were part of them, but it was clear that they loved their husbands dearly.

That was not really the life Annette wanted. She wanted to continue her studies and possibly become a teacher somewhere. Could she really be cooped up in some castle expecting to be a perfect wife? What if when she had children and her husband left just like her father did to her and her mother? But Annette knew it was a life she couldn’t avoid. She was born with a Crest, and with a Crest it was important for her to carry on the Dominic line.

She sighed sadly as she picked herself up from the ground and made her way to the dresser that held her clothes. She had a few of her uniforms neatly folded on one end, on the other end was her nightgowns for bed. Even though it was still early in the day, she didn’t even eat lunch yet, she felt too embarrassed to go back outside.

_Maybe a little rest will help me out a bit… _

To help her sleep, she began to hum a lullaby she heard from Felix’s mother.

~~

_It was a very bitter winter in Fraldarius territory_.

_Both Felix and Annette were forbidden to go outside and play due to how cold it was. The two friends did what they always did and read in the library, but after so many days of doing that straight they were beginning to become bored._

_ “Hey, Glenn!” Felix greeted his elder brother in the hallway on the way out of the library. Glenn looked a lot like Rodrigue, the same blue eyes, the same colored hair that Felix inherited as well, and sharp looking features. Glenn was only a couple of years older than Felix, about the same age as Sylvain (and a lot more mature than Sylvain), but he had always enjoyed the younger Fraldarius’ company. _

_“Hello, Felix,” Glenn greeted back. He then turned his blue gaze to Annette. “And hello to you as well, Annette. You two seem like you’re a bit bored…” he commented. _

_“Mother won’t let us outside…” Felix complained, him pouting as he crossed his arms. “Annie and I been at the library all week…” _

_“It’s cold outside, Little Brother,” Glenn sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with his right thumb and forefinger. “You’ll get sick out there.” _

_Annette tilted her head to the side. “Actually, according to the new health books that is false. You can’t get sick from cold… you need a icky virus bug for that_.”

_ Glenn shook his head. “Ugh… you really have been spending too much time in the library…”_

_ “Can we at least go to the training grounds, Big Brother?” Felix asked, him putting his hands together and begging. His amber eyes were large and bright, him really laying on the “adorable little brother” troupe. _

_Glenn bit his lip, then he glanced around. “Okay, okay… just dress very warm, okay?” he finally said. “Now, I have to do some work for Father, so I’ll see you later…” _

_The two children squealed in delight and made it to their rooms to change into warmer clothing. Felix wore a full turquois jacket lined with fur and black pants with brown boots up to his knees, and he wore thick brown gloves; this was something he would wear if he had went hunting with his brother and father. Annette wore white pants with orange knee high boots and an orange jacket that was designed similarly to Felix’s turquois along with thick royal blue gloves; once in a while she would go hunting with the Fraldarius men, even though it made her extremely upset to watch Glenn or Rodrigue expertly use a bow and kill deer in front of her._

_ Happy at their warm clothes they headed out to the training grounds that were outside of the Fraldarius castle, but still within its secure walls. Snow fell gently from the sky, but the bitter cold stung their cheeks and made their normally pale skin bright red; the air was literally hurting their faces. By the time Felix and Annette made it to the training grounds, Annette was shaking and her teeth chattered_.

_“Don’t worry, Annie,” Felix assured with a slight smile that shook with cold. “Once we move around a bit we’ll be warm in no time!”_

_ R-r-r-r-right…!” Annette stuttered as she reached for a wooden training axe with a gloved hand. “R-r-r-ready!” _

_Felix had grabbed his wooden training sword and gave it a test wave of his arm. Despite being only about five years old it seemed like he was already an expert of the sword. His amber eyes burned with a fire. “Ready!” he shouted._

_ The two children began to spar, their wooden weapons clashing against each other with loud clanks. Felix was right about how when the two start moving around they would get warm. After a few minutes they had heard a loud scream in the woods that was behind the tall wall that separated Fraldarius Castle with the woods. _

_“D-d-did you hear that, Felix?” Annette asked shakily. She went closer to him and grabbed his arm gently, hiding behind him. “That didn’t sound good…_”

_“It sounded like a man…” Felix commented, his amber eyes filling with curiosity. “Maybe he is in trouble?” _

_“Then we should get one of the knights… or your father…” Annette said, her lips tinged blue. Felix shook his head._

_ “No time, Annie!” he shouted, fully determined. “We can help! I’m sure he was just spooked by a wolf or something…” _

_“Um… should we really go out there…?” Annette squeaked. “I’m getting really cold…” _

_“Come on, Annie!” Felix encouraged, his smile growing wider. _

_“Okay…” _

_Felix lead Annette to a small hole that was covered by bushes that went outside the wall. It was too big for the knights to go through, but it was just the right size for Felix and Annette. As they crawled through the snow began to grow heavier, the sun setting, and darkness began creeping over the scenery. The wind began to howl through the trees bare branches, whistling, and the bitter iciness seemed to seep through their warm clothes_.

_The woods wasn’t that large, on a good day the children played there unsupervised all the time. But tonight seemed different. It was too dark outside, the moon not showing in the sky. Their boots crunched in the snow as Felix lead them to where he had heard the man scream._

_ There was a growling in the distance, something that sounded bigger than a wolf. Glowing red eyes met amber and teal, blood dripping from rust stained teeth. The creature before them looked similarly to a wolf, but it was much larger and more monstrous. _

_A Demonic Beast. _

_“F-Felix!” Annette cried, her eyes brimming with tears._

_ Without a second thought Felix grabbed Annette’s hand and ran, practically dragging her behind him. The Demonic Beast howled as its heavy set paws plowed through the snow and gave chase. In the moment when Felix grabbed Annette and ran, he didn’t run back towards the castle, but instead toward a small cave where he and Annette would hide for hide-and-seek with the other kids._

_ The bitterly cold air burned their lungs as their boots crunched through the snow. Annette clung to her throat with her free hand, feeling the intense burning. The growling felt like it was just breathing down her neck, and she screamed loudly. Felix picked up the pace and saw the cave just dead ahead_.

_ Luckily, the cave was small enough for the two to hide it. There was no way the Demonic Beast could fit in there._

_ Felix dragged Annette inside the cave once they made it, him pushing her as far against the back wall as possible. He sat in front of her, his wooden training sword in hand, ready to strike. It wasn’t much, but if he could at least attack the eyes of the Demonic Beast it would help a little bit._

_ The Demonic Beast crashed head-first into the cave, its jaws just barely reaching Felix’s foot. The young Fraldarius slashed his sword at the Demonic Beast’s eyes, it yowling in pain as a dark blood seeped through its wound. The cave shook as the Demonic Beast thrashed, small pebbles hitting Annette on the top of her head. Enraged, the Demonic Beast pulled its head from the entrance of the cave, causing a large amount of heavy snow and rock to fall and block them in. _

_“No!” Felix screamed as he lunged forward. His heavily gloved hands tried to dig his way out, but as it got colder and colder, the snow turned into ice and sealed every crevice._

_ Annette whimpered in the dark, her barely able to see her hand in front of her. “Felix… what is going to happen…?” she whispered to him, her voice shallow. _

_Felix grunted as he uselessly tried to dig out. He had snapped his wooden sword in half when he tried to break the ice, him growling in frustration. He had no idea what was going to happen._

_ “Annie… I’m so sorry… this is my fault…” Felix hoarsely cried._

_ Annette followed his voice in the darkness and managed to find him. She wrapped her arms around him and held him close. She felt warm against his body heat, and she was sure he felt the same with her. The red-head felt his arms wrapped around her, his ice-cold face in her shoulder_.

_Soon, way too soon, the shared body heat began to dissipate. Their teeth were chattering and their hands began to feel numb. Annette couldn’t even feel her face, and the ends of her pigtails were tinged with ice. Felix felt that his ears were about to fall off, they felt as though they were burning and on fire despite being in the cold._

_ “I-I-I’m so c-c-c-cold, F-F-Felix…” Annette shivered, her voice sounding tired and weak. “I-I-I j-just w-want to s-sleep…” _

_“I-I-I’m c-c-cold and s-s-sleepy t-t-t-too, Annette…” he replied, his voice slurring._

_ They huddled as close as they could, them able to hear each others heartbeats, although they sounded slow and weak. The two children could never recall when they fell asleep, but they both remembered the moment they felt warmth._

_ “Rodrigue!” a woman’s voice screamed out suddenly, just barely breaking through the children’s dark and cold dreams. “They have to be in here_!”

CRACK! CRACK!

_ The ice and rock was being chipped away, and soon the light of a torch graced Felix and Annette’s skin. Annette blinked open her eyes, Felix doing the same next to her. _

_“Oh, thank the Goddess!”_

_ “Mama…?” Felix drowsily called out. _

_Odette Fraldarius, a woman with warm amber eyes and auburn colored hair, grabbed the two children_ _from inside the cave and held them close to her. Both Felix and Annette instantly curled into her warmth, and the woman began to shake with tears or relief, her arms tightening around them._

_ “Oh Goddess… they’re so blue…!” Odette sobbed, her warm tears dripping onto the children’s faces. “We need to get them inside to a doctor and a white magic mage immediately,” replied a man’s voice, Rodrigue. _

_Odette carried Felix close to her while Rodrigue grabbed and held Annette close to him, the two adults making their way back to Castle Fraldarius. Once inside the castle both Felix and Annette were rushed towards a fireplace to be by the warm fire. Odette immediately called for a maid to bring fresh warm clothes as she carefully peeled off the freezing clothes off of the children. _

_Felix kept on incoherently mumbling on how he was cold, and all Odette could say was, “I know my sweet boy, we’re getting some warm clothes. You will be okay…” Annette could feel the warmth entering her body again, her practically wanting to sit inside the fireplace itself._

_ Rodrigue had ordered a servant to fetch the doctor that lived in the castle along with a white magic mage. Within minutes both entered the room to assess Felix and Annette. Blankets were brought to wrap them up, and hot beverages were brought as well for them to drink. The white magic that was used helped relieve the children of frostbite so that their limbs wouldn’t have to be removed._

_ All the while this was going on, Glenn stood on the other side of the room, his blue eyes wide. He gripped a book in his hands, his knuckles turning bone white. _

_“Glenn…” Rodrigue said lowly, his voice calm but radiating anger. “Why did you say they could go outside?”_

_ “They were supposed to stay at the training grounds, Father…” the older Fraldarius son replied, his eyes darting from his father’s gaze._

_ “Your mother said ‘No’ to them, so what made you think you can say ‘Yes’?”_

_ “I didn’t realize-“_

_ “They could have _died_, Glenn!” Rodrigue then shouted. _

_“I’m sorry… I didn’t know they would run off…” _

_“Rodrigue, yelling at Glenn isn’t going to help,” Odette sternly chided. “He is a child himself…” _

_“And the future Duke of House Fraldarius,” Rodrigue pointed out. “He needs to learn that decisions have consequences. What if these were his people he was leading in assistance of the King? Everyone has to die because of _his_ decision?” _

_Odette just sighed sadly as she had someone assist her take the children to Felix’s room. She had both children put in the bed and had the fireplace made for them as she personally went and got extra blankets for them. As the children snuggled close to each other for warmth Odette tucked them in with the extra blankets, thankful that the blue in their faces were tinging pink again. _

_“Oh, you poor children…” Odette gently sobbed, her amber eyes glistening with tears. She leaned down and hugged them through the blankets. “I was so worried for you two…”_

_ “I’m sorry, Mama…” Felix wailed, him rubbing his eyes with his hand. Odette gently shushed him. “It’s okay… you two are safe now…” she whispered. A maid then came in with a tray with two steaming bowls of broth. “Thank you, you are dismissed” she told the maid as she took the tray from her hands. “Here you two are… please eat up.” Felix and Annette sat up in the bed and began to drink the broth._

“Oh precious child of mine~,” _Odette gently began to sing_. “Please do not cry nor whine, I am here for you, my precious child of mine~. No one shall hurt you now, as we gently look upon the lough~, Oh my precious child of mine, we shall look over to the great green pine, all part of the Goddess’ great design~.”

_As Odette sang her lullaby, both Felix’s and Annette’s eyes grew heavy as they settled into the bed after their broth and fell asleep._

~~

Felix bolted upright, heavily panting.

The moon was shining through his window, tinging his dark hair silver. That was a memory he didn’t really want to relive. The night that he and Annette almost died from hypothermia haunted Felix periodically. Not only did they almost die, or that Glenn was punished by his father, but that was when his mother started showing signs of being extremely ill.

Odette Fraldarius was from an extremely minor noble family in the Kingdom, but what apparently arranged her marriage to Rodrigue was that she had a talent for singing and it helped earn her family more money on top of a successful merchant business. That singing trait was one of Felix’s most loved things about his mother, and she always sang to him, Glenn, Annette, and of course the other children when they were around.

The lullaby that his mother sang that night to Felix and Annette was the last time she had ever sang. She began to lose her ability to walk with severe muscle spasms, she got dizzy quite a lot, and problems with her vision. Eventually, it was like she couldn’t breathe on her own and passed away within the year. The doctors and mages couldn’t figure out what had happened, and even Cornelia – whom had cured the plague that rampaged through the Kingdom at one point – couldn’t figure it out either.

In a way Felix blamed himself for his mother’s sudden illness. After all, she did go out into the freezing cold to look for him and Annette. She cared for the two children while they were in bed for the rest of the week, reading to them and trying to hum tunes, but it was the beginning of her illness and she wasn’t very coherent with it.

Annette may think her singing was embarrassing, but to Felix is reminded him of his mother. Odette and Annette would sing with each other all the time, which would make Felix smile happily and bob his head to their melodies. The years following his mother’s death it was something that made him truly happy was to hear Annette sing; although they were two different styles of singing, he enjoyed both of them as they made him feel at peace and at home.

With a heavy sigh Felix got up from his bed and threw on his turquois jacket, black pants, and his brown boots. There was no way he could sleep right now. He exited his dorm room and quietly walked down the dark hallway and left the building. He exited by the greenhouse and walked toward the pond where he saw the other students and professors fish. The water glittered and sparkled silver from the moonlight, and it looked calming and relaxing.

However, Felix wasn’t the only one that was taking a stroll by the pond.

Annette sat at the end of the dock, her legs curled up underneath her, her orange shawl covering her shoulders. Her fiery orange hair was a muted silver in the moonlight, her pale skin practically glowing. She was looking into the water as she sang a very familiar song.

His mother’s lullaby.

_ “Oh precious child of mine, please do not cry nor whine, I am here for you, my precious child of mine~.”_ It was the same, gentle tone his mother would use. “_No one shall hurt you now, as we gently look upon the lough, Oh my precious child of mine, we shall look over to the great green pine, all part of the Goddess’ great design~.”_

It made Felix wonder if she had the same dream as he had, and he was really beginning to wonder of fate and the Goddess’s will was real.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Lough" is an Irish term for river :)  
I figured we needed more childhood memories in the story as it is a "Childhood AU"... so, I hope you like this chapter.  
We never knew the name of Felix's mother, so I chose "Odette" as it fits with the French names that the Kingdom has.


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